


a gold for a gold

by Silverine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 2019 FINA World Championship, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Athletes in love, Birthday, Happy Birthday Lance (Voltron), M/M, Marriage Proposal, Swimmer Lance (Voltron), Swimming, swimmer keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 19:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20019997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverine/pseuds/Silverine
Summary: At the World Championship, the Kogane-McClain team is about to participate in the high diving competition, but one of the team members is more anxious than he should.The gold medal is not theonlygold at stakes here...For Lance's birthday 2k19 - And forever!





	a gold for a gold

**Author's Note:**

> Being July 28th, I was watching the Gwangju 2019 Swimming WC and the duo high diving competition, and this simply came to me. Happy birthday to our best boy, Lancey Lance!

“Why so tense, Kogane? Even for you, this is too much stiffness.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me,” smirks Lance, and Keith honestly would do it right there if he could. But not now, he thinks. That’s reserved for later.

They are about to jump for a medal at the FINA WC, and although his plan sounded very cool in his head during the long trip on the plane, he realizes now he didn’t calculate the impact of the extra pressure adding to the already huge weight over their shoulders. That was, as Pidge would say,  _ “piss-poor planning, Kogane.” _

But he is here already, and very determined to make it work. So, right now, he must concentrate all his thoughts in the last jump ahead of them. At 10 mts of altitude, keeping your head well put over your shoulders is always a must; today, it’s also a need. A very personal need.

Problem is, his partner’s ability to sense his uneasiness is starting to be more of an obstacle than a help under these circumstances. Barely a couple of minutes away from their jump, as Lance helps him adjust the patches on his back, his hands linger a bit longer than needed over Keith’s skin, as if trying to sense the source of discomfort via direct touch. He gets a few chills in return. 

“Hmm, I see... You’re worried the locals will think you’re betraying them,” he jokes near his ear, eyeing the cameras around them. “A Kogane jumping for the States at Gwangju. I get it.”

“Says the Cuban McClain who has a Japanese coach, also jumping for the States. Not even close,” Keith grumbles back, then he regrets it. That’s not even what’s bothering him, and right before their jump he can’t go and ruin their synergy. It’s literally the opposite of what he needs right now.

He is about to make some random excuse, but Lance is already walking backward, all taut lines and glowing skin in his damp swimsuit. Open arms, bigger smile. 

“C’mon, babe! We are doing great, and this isn’t any different from our pool. Everyone is here with us, we just gotta do our thing and be done with it,” he says, brimming with self-confidence. He winks. “C’mon. Let’s win this.”

And goddamn, Keith is in love. 

Waking up from his self-inflicted brain freeze, he nods, takes a deep breath and gets ready to assume position. They do their last good-luck fist-bump, staring right into each other’s eyes, and then start moving in sync, like they have practiced thousands of times before. After they begin, it’s always showtime for both. Keith, in his paused, serious stance. Lance, a man ready to put on a spectacle for his gawking audience. Both raise their hands, greet the people, turn around and stand in the very edge of the trampoline. A jump that can kill men, about to be transformed into a gracious fall. Adrenaline that never gets old for neither of them. 

And they are in this together, which is the best and also the hardest part. Triumph and failure, forever shared. But both know what must be done, and after years together, they can read each other’s every heartbeat, every breath, the minimum slide of a toe on the cold surface of the trampoline. They are silent, but in their heads, both are counting in unison.

“Three, two, one, breath-- Jump!”

A leap of faith, falling backward. One, two, three turns. Arms that can’t dangle, can’t lose control; they make a complicated spiral in perfect sync and it’s at that moment, the moment they twist and their different yet very well trained bodies adjust their own weight to match the other and fall on the water completely straight… It’s at that moment that Keith knows it.  _ They did it. _

They sink in the water, heads breaking the surface shortly after. They both look at their partner, catching each other’s hand in a tight handshake, then stare at the screen in anxious wait. Helpers swim their way to help them get out; the judges take their sweet time and both athletes get out of the small pool, dripping and deafened by the audience’s cheers. Water drops fall down Keith’s body in constant ‘ _ plips’ _ that match his heartbeat.

The screen over the judge’s table finally comes to life.

[ 444.60 ]

Right over the other favorites, the only ones who could still overthrow them, and with their last jump already done. Keith can’t even open his mouth before Lance is already climbing over him.

“WE DID IT!” he screams in his ear, “BABE, WE DID IT!”

And the entire team is surrounding them, laughing, hugging them. He sees their coach Shiro smiling as if he hadn’t won his own set of golds before; Hunk, Pidge, Allura, old Coran, cheering and jumping… But even though Keith is bursting with happiness at their first big victory as a team, now that it’s confirmed they have won their first gold he is a man on a mission.

Somehow, he slides away from the crowd of people congratulating them, running to the corner where his uniforms were discarded. He picks his team jacket, shakes it to feel the weight inside the pocket, exhaling in relief when he confirms it’s still there. He puts on the jacket, enters the tunnel where athletes can finally hide from the cameras and waits for the only steps he wants to hear to come his way.

He doesn’t have to wait that long. Lance appears, holding his own jacket, looking side to side until he spots him in a corner.

“Keith? What’s wrong?” he asks cautiously. He is alone… meaning Pidge and Hunk did their part. 

So now the rest is up to him, but even though the hardest part has  _ technically _ passed, he fights a sudden, absolute terror that menaces with ruining the set up. Maybe this is a mistake, after all. A mistake for him, a mistake for Lance…

But when he sees his boyfriend, who ought to be enjoying this accomplishment to his heart’s content, shivering as water drips down his body while looking at him with such worried eyes, there’s no way he can regret it. 

“Happy birthday, Lance McClain,” he says, trying to steady his voice. Then he smirks. “I wanted to give you a gold today. I’m glad we did it.”

Lance blinks rapidly, then blows the longest raspberry ever, throwing his jacket over his own shoulders.

“Is that why you were so nervous? Here I was worried to death, thinking you were pissed at me for the surname thing--”

“We can discuss the surname later,” mumbles Keith. “If you say yes, that is…”

In front of a very confused and uncharacteristically speechless Lance, Keith pulls the small blue box from his pocket. He makes a pause to stop the shaking of his own hands, then he opens it and, as he was strictly instructed, gets on one knee, stiff again. He breaths in and out, and says:

“A gold for a gold, remember? You said that was  _ so dreamlike _ at Shiro’s wedding. When he told us he proposed after his last Olympics...”

“You... remember that? We weren’t even together yet...” mutters Lance, eyes wide open, jaw slacking. Keith feels his resolve crumble. Maybe he really made a mistake, maybe he rushed it too much, maybe he really is a clown and Lance doesn’t love him enough to--

But Lance drops heavily to his knees, takes the ring, puts it on himself and then, after staring at his face for a moment, simply squeezes Keith in a crushing hug.

“Oh my god, I  _ hate _ you,” he grumbles, but then he laughs in Keith’s ear, kissing it, then his cheek, then grabbing his head with both hands and kissing him long and strong on his lips. Keith responds the kiss out of instinct more than anything, still stiff and with his heart on his hand, waiting for an answer. 

But when he opens his eyes, stunned, Lance laughs again, this time with shiny eyes and as if he was hiding a sniffle. “Sorry, not true. I love you, but you just… You stole my proposal! I was gonna propose at the Olympics next year, what the hell!”

“I’m-- You? But... Adam said proposing at the Olympics is bad luck,” stutters Keith, mind still blank. Lance sniffles now --there’s no mistake--, but he still snorts as he crushes his cheeks between his palms.

“Babe, he’s been married to Shiro for  _ five _ years. How is an Olympics proposal bad luck?”

“I… I don’t know? I just didn’t want to mess up?” answers Keith, feeling very dumb.

“Is that it? Or you just couldn’t wait?” Lance taunts him, now dragging his nose down his cheek that way that always makes him lose his mind. Before it takes full effect, though, he holds Lance by the shoulders.

“You still haven’t said yes,” he reminds him, and Lance now laughs shyly, reaching for his hands resting on his shoulders. He taps his knuckle with the finger sporting the ring.

“I put it on, didn’t I? So you can’t have it back now, Kogane. No refunds allowed.”

_ Holy shit, it worked _ . Keith lets out a prolonged, relieved sigh, dropping his head over Lance’s collarbone, as his now fiancé runs his fingers down his damp hair, kissing his head while his laugh still echoes on his chest.

“A birthday, World Championship proposal… They’ll never let you live this one down. Holy crap, Keith,” he says, way too amused at the prospect of his darling being bullied. Keith grunts.

“I know. They already let me know at the camp.”

“Oh, they knew?! Snakes!” exclaims Lance, but then a loud voice summons athletes back to the court for the award ceremony. The few bystanders watching them start walking out, with smiles and excited whispers, and they know their team will come to drag them back to the podium at any moment, no matter how tender their little moment is. So, in a hurry, both put on their pants and close their team jackets, trying to look decent. The ring shines in Lance’s hand, who stares at it, then at Keith.

“And you don’t have a matching one?” he asks. 

Keith shakes his head, and Lance smirks. 

“Oh, well. People will think I’m engaged to some random person until the Olympics, then,” he sighs, sweeping his hair back with that purposedly killer stare. With a wink, he adds: “But you just wait until our next gold, babe. No one will have a doubt. You won’t know what hit you.”

Knowing Lance, Keith thinks he should be afraid and not excited, but he can’t find it in himself to dread anything at the moment, blessed by the purest happiness he has ever felt.

“Confident,” he retorts instead, wrapping a hand around his fiancé’s waist on the way out.

“By your side?” he asks, as they leave the darkness of the tunnel and the lights of the gym and the podium receive them, among the roaring of the crowd. Lance smiles, eyes full of love. “Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted many things today, and I put them ALL in this fic haha! Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Find me on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/silverineon) and [Tumblr!](http://www.silverineontherun.tumblr.com) And please let me know what you think. Cheers!


End file.
